View of the door to the gas chamber in the Dachau concentration camp. A sign above it identifies it as a shower.
The procedures in which the prisoners would go through before getting inside the gas chambers were often rushed and sometimes violent. First, the prisoners were either unloaded from cattle cars and were ushered to where the gas chambers were, or they were selected to go into a gas chamber at their first arrival to a concentration camp if they were deemed “unfit”. Next, they were then told that they had to be disinfected from lice in “showers” (in order to prevent the prisoners from panicking). After that, then the prisoners were instructed to turn over all their valuables and to undress. Sometimes the Nazi guards would beat and shout at the prisoners along the way. Then the prisoners were driven inside the “showers” (which were actually gas chambers) with raised arms in order to allow as many people as possible to fit inside.
Afterwards, the procedures the prisoners went through after going inside the gas chambers were filled with doubtfulness and anxiety. The prisoners would all stand close to another to create more space for other doomed prisoners. A Nazi guard would then close and lock the door of the gas chamber. Then, they would be secured inside the gas chambers only to slowly suffocate as the Nazi guards released pure, carbon monoxide into the chamber through pipes or by “Zyklon B” pellets thrown down the air shafts of the gas chamber. To learn more about this topic, click here and /or here.
The procedures in which the prisoners would go through before getting inside the gas chambers were often rushed and sometimes violent. First, the prisoners were either unloaded from cattle cars and were ushered to where the gas chambers were, or they were selected to go into a gas chamber at their first arrival to a concentration camp if they were deemed “unfit”. Next, they were then told that they had to be disinfected from lice in “showers” (in order to prevent the prisoners from panicking). After that, then the prisoners were instructed to turn over all their valuables and to undress. Sometimes the Nazi guards would beat and shout at the prisoners along the way. Then the prisoners were driven inside the “showers” (which were actually gas chambers) with raised arms in order to allow as many people as possible to fit inside.
Afterwards, the procedures the prisoners went through after going inside the gas chambers were filled with doubtfulness and anxiety. The prisoners would all stand close to another to create more space for other doomed prisoners. A Nazi guard would then close and lock the door of the gas chamber. Then, they would be secured inside the gas chambers only to slowly suffocate as the Nazi guards released pure, carbon monoxide into the chamber through pipes or by “Zyklon B” pellets thrown down the air shafts of the gas chamber. To learn more about this topic, click here and /or here.